A thriller low on genuine thrills, The Secret Woman balances predictable twists with a compelling lead performance.
The Secret Woman, following an amnesiac uncovering her past, is a paint-by-numbers entry in Netflix‘s catalog of international thrillers. Though led by an engaging lead performance, it just barely saves itself from being a total slog .
Louise (Natalie Wolfsberg Madueño) lives a happy life. She runs a restaurant next to a gorgeous lake in Norway, and is newly engaged to her partner, Joachim (Pål Sverre Hagen). She’s built her life from scratch, having mysteriously surfaced on a boat on the Norwegian coast two years earlier. With no memory, and only an ID bearing the name “Louise Andersen” to identify her, Louise looks toward her future for hope. One afternoon at the restaurant, a customer, Danish tourist Peter (Janek Lesniak), calls her “Helene.” Peter insists Louise, as “Helene,” was his former colleague back in Denmark, but Louise doesn’t recognize him. Unsettled, Louise decides to investigate her history.
From her research, Louise had concluded that she was a prostitute with no family or friends looking for her, and must have been running away from some kind of danger. But after some DNA testing, Louise learns Peter was right. She really is his former colleague, whose disappearance left behind a husband, Edmund (Claes Bang), a son (David Elting), and a thriving shipping business in Denmark.
A peaceful life interrupted by the past.
Photo Credit: Netflix
From here, The Secret Woman unfolds as one might expect a forgotten-identity thriller to reveal its secrets. Madueño is a compelling heroine, as Louise grasps with having a name, a life, and a family she doesn’t remember. She has to uncover her secrets while still staying true to the life she’s built with Joachim.
Her former life is completely different from her peaceful life in Norway. Edmund is a driven, forceful partner compared to laidback Joachim; her son has trouble warming up to her. She’s warmly welcomed home by Edmund, mother-in-law Caroline (Stina Ekblad), and her son, but something feels amiss.
Louise’s disappearance is attributed to a possible mental breakdown after the death of her beloved father, but the story’s logic begins to crack as Louise investigates deeper. The tired hallmarks of thrillers are all there: dark secrets, concealed motives, revelations about how characters know one another.
Not so many thrills and chills.
Photo Credit: Netflix
There’s very little surprise at the heart of The Secret Woman, including Bang’s role as a suspiciously-motivated husband. (If you’ve seen Bad Sisters, you know he’s skilled at playing husbands whose moods change on a dime.) The screenplay, a joint effort between director Barbara Topsøe-Rothenborg and cowriter Anders Frithiof August, moves too quickly for its own good while still feeling like a glacial 118 minutes. Louise’s investigation takes her into discovering the interconnectedness of her company, her marriage, the death of her father, and the real Louise Andersen.
Where The Secret Woman has hints of greatness is in Louise and Joachim, demonstrating a genuine display of dimensionality in their characters. Louise’s and Joachim by far are the film’s most fully-realized characters. It’s a shame Joachim isn’t onscreen more often. He’s genuinely helpful, digging into Louise’s past while fully aware that their future together is at stake. Madueño’s sense of being torn between worlds is palpable. Edmund and Caroline, living in Louise’s family mansion in her absence, function exactly as you’d imagine a mysterious husband and his mother would. Twists and turns feel as paint-by-numbers by the title. It’s low on thrills but a decent exercise in guessing an ending long before it’s arrived.
The bottom line.
No one’s asking Netflix thrillers to reinvent the wheel, but with the skill of the performances, there’s potential for something greater in the structure of The Secret Woman. It contains few genuine surprises, but there’s a real heart at its center, with Madueño in the lead. As brain candy, it’s a solid, if predictable, thriller, but the surprises in The Secret Woman feel few and far between.
The Secret Woman is now streaming on Netflix. Watch the trailer below.
Images courtesy of Netflix.
REVIEW RATING
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The Secret Woman - 5/10
5/10
Claire was once asked in elementary school why her go-to question was always, “Watch anything good lately?” It’s still her go-to question, because she loves hearing what other people are passionate about. She often sacrifices sleep in the hopes that she will one day clear her to-watch and to-read lists (a futile effort so far).
